Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.
Jazz lay in her bed, half asleep, the barest hint of sunlight starting to come in through her window. She was warm and content, trying to decide if she should get up or not. The faint clank of dish on dish could be heard from downstairs as her mother was undoubtedly fixing breakfast, and occasionally the sound of her father's booming voice would drift up as well although it was more subdued than normal. Jazz snuggled a little further under her blankets, refusing to let her brain start in on the day, just reveling in the sweet nothingness of being not-quite-awake.
The phone rang. Jazz winced at the sudden noise. A thought, full and definite, filled her head for the first time that morning: Something bad had happened. No one called that early in the morning unless there was an emergency. She refused to acknowledge the thought, trying to return to her dreamless contentment. It wouldn't be denied though. More than that, the definite thought insisted, someone has died. She wasn't sure why she knew that, since her brain wasn't really cooperating yet, but she absolutely did. It settled like a lead weight in her stomach.
Slow footsteps made their way up the stairs and down the hallway, pausing in front of her room. The door quietly opened and Jazz sensed her mother slip in even though her eyes were still closed. "Jazz," her mother croaked softly.
Jazz finally pulled herself awake and opened her eyes. She was unsurprised to see tears streaming down her mother's face. She sat up, her face going pale, as her mind finally began to register the events of the previous night. Danny staggering into her room as Phantom, barely able to stand and bleeding bright green ectoplasm from a long gash in his shoulder.
Her mother fell to her knees next to the bed. "Jazz, I'm so sorry. We're so sorry. We never meant to… We didn't know…" She lay her head down on the bed and sobbed into her arms, unable to finish.
Jazz's breath caught in her throat. Her mom and dad bursting into the room, weapons at the ready. "No," Jazz protested. "He… he can't be…" Her quick protest as weapons hummed warm in their hands.
She shook slightly and clutched the blankets closer to her. Twin bolts of green energy. Blue eyes staring at her.
Jazz tentatively reached a hand out toward her mother's shoulder, her own tears starting. But what was there really to say?
Her father, his orange jumpsuit rumpled and spattered with small green and red stains, tentatively entered the room and cleared his throat to make his presence known. His eyes were puffy and red as well, though he had no tears currently. "We need to go back to the hospital now," he said gently.
Twin bolts of green energy lancing toward Danny.
"Danny, no!" she exclaimed weakly. A flash of white light. Blue eyes staring at her, inches from her own, wide with shock.
The ride to the hospital was subdued and silent, except for the occasional strangled sob. Her mother and father sat in the front, her mother driving for once, while Jazz sat in the back. No one said a word the entire ride.
A confused blur of white shirts and a burned smell and far too much red, human blood. Her hand never left his during the ambulance ride.
Her parents shambled like zombies into the hospital, Jazz following close behind in a daze of her own. She peripherally noted Danny's best friends, Sam and Tucker, curled up asleep on a pair of waiting room chairs.
A doctor looked up as they entered, and briskly walked up to the trio. "Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, may I talk to you for a moment?" he asked. Her parents nodded numbly and followed the doctor to a private alcove down the hall.
Once inside the hospital they were separated by a barrage of doctors and nurses
Jazz started to follow also when she spotted a familiar figure slumped in front of the I.C.U. doors. He was wearing a set of loose blue hospital shirt and pants, and his head was bent down so she couldn't see his face, but she instantly recognized the mop of messy black hair and the set of his shoulders.
Jazz gasped, then ran to Danny. "Danny! You're ok!" she shouted.
He looked up, surprise on his face. "Jazz?" She barely registered his swollen eyes or tear streaked cheeks.
Twin bolts of green energy lancing toward Danny.
She reached him and went to swoop him into a hug, but stumbled as her arms went straight through him. She regained her balance, the shock on her face now mirroring his, her mouth an open "o" as she stared at him.
A flash of white light. Blue eyes staring at her, inches from her own, wide with shock.
Danny recovered first. "Jazz, I'm so sorry," he said, trembling.
Her lower lip trembled and she fought to hold in further tears. "It's not your fault," she answered.
Danny's gaze flickered to their parents, still talking to the doctor down the hall. His expression hardened. "I want so badly to hate them," he whispered. He looked back at Jazz, tears starting in his eyes too. "But, I just can't." His shoulders slumped once more. "I'm angrier than I have ever been, but I can't hate them. This would never have happened if I had just told them. It is my fault really."
His blue eyes looked pleadingly at her. "Do you want me to hate them, Jazz? Do you hate them?"
The weapons hummed warm in their hands. Twin bolts of green energy lancing toward Danny.
Jazz shook her head, unsure what to say, her emotions too much of a rollercoaster to even know herself how she felt.
"It's just their faces, once they realized what was going on… they were so broken…"
Her mother's voice in the distance, laced with panic and confusion, on the phone with the paramedics.
She wanted to reach out and take his hand, but restrained herself, not wanting to see the way it would pass through his again. She closed her eyes for a moment.
Danny preparing to flee, but he wasn't fast enough. Twin bolts of green energy.
A flash of white light. Blue eyes staring at her.
"How could they do that? How could they just attack you like that?"
"I was hurt from a fight with Plasmius – I didn't have enough energy to go invisible and they must have spotted me phasing into your room. They thought they were protecting you from an evil ghost." His lips tried to twitch upward into an ironic grin but failed.
"Jazz, get away from him now!" her mother shouted.
"Stay away from her, Phantom!" her dad's deep voice threatened.
"They were trying to protect you," Danny repeated so softly she almost couldn't hear.
"I know," she finally answered. "I don't hate them." She took a shuddering breath. "They probably hate themselves enough anyway."
Her mom and dad in a hospital room, clinging to each other with grim expressions.
Danny swallowed hard. "Good. That you don't hate them, I mean. Hate… is too powerful an emotion."
The room suddenly seemed a little brighter to Jazz and she squinted briefly as her eyes adjusted. Danny looked at her seriously, full of misery, then took a deep breath. "Jazz, I think it's time to move on." She opened her mouth but froze, not knowing what to say. "Trust me," Danny continued, "this isn't the town to stick around in as a ghost in if you don't have to. Especially if there's some kind of actual after-life to go on to."
She took a shuddering breath and nodded slowly. Finally unable to contain them, tears well up big in Jazz's eyes. "I'm going to miss you so much, Danny."
Danny bit his lip, trying to hold himself in check still. He suddenly held up his hand and looked at it uncertainly. "I think… if I concentrate hard enough…" He tentatively held out his hand to Jazz. This time, when she reached for it, she was able to feel him, his palm solid in hers. Her breath caught in her throat as she suppressed another sob, trying to smile.
Danny hovering over her in concern. His hand never left hers during the ambulance ride.
Wait. Jazz frowned.
Danny forced a smile too, looking for something else to say. "The fruitloop came by earlier. I think he was actually crying real tears. He didn't want to stick around for when Mom and Dad came back though. I think he knows they know about me… "
He trailed off as their mom and dad finally walked their way, led by the doctor they had been talking to. They were leaning on each other and looked like they had been crying again. Their mom looked over to where Danny and Jazz were with a forlorn expression and motioned to follow her.
Mom and dad standing behind Danny, clinging to each other with grim expressions.
The light in the room was still getting brighter. Danny's shoulders slumped and he sighed. "I guess it's time to go, Jazz," he whispered as his hand reluctantly phased through hers again.
Her eyes began to widen with panic. "Danny, no…" she protested, trying to grab his hand back.
"No!" she yelled. Twin bolts of green energy lancing toward Danny. Leaping forward, trying to stop them.
He turned and walked up to the double doors their parents had just disappeared through, pausing to look back at her. Tears were now streaming freely down his cheeks. Jazz started to take a step after him.
Leaping forward, not thinking of anything except saving her brother. Pain exploding through her as she landed heavily on the floor.
"Danny…" Her voice quavered uncertainly. She suddenly couldn't breathe and when had the room gotten so blindingly bright?
Screaming and yelling. A flash of white light, followed by the thump of knees hitting the floor next to her. Blue eyes staring at her, inches from her own, wide with shock. "Jazz, hang in there," Danny whispered desperately.
"Goodbye, Jazz," Danny whispered.
And she remembered.
She had been sitting at her desk, doing homework, when Danny staggered through her wall intangibly He was barely able to stand and she noticed at once how his black suit was ripped and covered in bright green ectoplasm, dripping from a long gash in his shoulder. Immediately she jumped up and went to him. "Danny! What happened?"
His knees started to buckle and he reached out to lean on her just as the door flew open. Her mom and dad, outfitted in their usual blue and orange HazMat suits, burst into the room, weapons at the ready. "Mom! Dad! No, don't…" she quickly tried to protest.
The weapons hummed warm in their hands as they charged. "Jazz, get away from him now!" her mother shouted.
Danny straightened away from her, preparing to flee, but he wasn't fast enough. "No!" she yelled, as twin bolts of green energy lanced toward him. She leaped forward, trying to stop them, not thinking of anything except saving her brother. Pain exploded through her as she landed heavily on the floor.
There were screams and yells, her name in most of them. Then, "Stay away from her, Phantom!" her dad's deep voice threatened, thick with anguish.
"Danny, no!" she exclaimed weakly.
There was a flash of white light, followed by the thump of knees hitting the floor next to her. Then blue eyes were staring at her, inches from her own, wide with shock. "Jazz, hang in there," Danny whispered desperately, taking her hand in his.
Time faded in and out. She could hear her mother's voice in the distance, laced with panic and confusion, on the phone with the paramedics. She wasn't sure why it was distant though, since she was sure her mother was right next to her, her hand holding a bloody towel to her side.
With a jolt, the paramedics loaded the gurney into the back of the ambulance. A confused blur of white shirts surrounded her. There was a burned smell that irritated her nose and far too much red, human blood. Mostly though she focused on Danny, hovering over her with concern. His hand never left hers during the ambulance ride, but once inside the hospital they were separated by a barrage of doctors and nurses. The world faded to a fuzzy black.
Her eyes fluttered open briefly as she struggled back to consciousness. She was in a white bed, surrounded by quietly beeping machines. Danny's hand had once again found hers. Her mom and dad stood just behind him, clinging to each other with grim expressions.
Their eyes lit up when they noticed she was awake and they circled her bed to get closer. Jazz ignored her parents though, trying to see Danny. She had to make sure he was safe. "Are you ok?" she asked hoarsely, finally able to focus in on him.
He smiled sadly in response. "Yeah, I'm fine, Jazz."
She sighed in relief and closed her eyes. "Good," she drawled, already fading out again.
In the distance she could hear Danny's voice. She realized he was praying – the only prayer he probably knew, from when they were little kids.
"Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep
And Angels guard me through the night
And keep me in their blessed sight."
He had always preferred that version. The original, older version that Jazz learned first had made Danny too scared to go to sleep at night. Jazz remembered how that one ended though:
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.
"Goodbye, Danny."
A/N: Ok... well, maybe I've just been watching too much Supernatural lately...